DocumentCode
21151
Title
Fewer launches, more space
Author
Courtland, Rachel
Volume
51
Issue
6
fYear
2014
fDate
Jun-14
Firstpage
36
Lastpage
40
Abstract
The first robot capable of building anything, including a replica of itself, might cost a fortune to develop; the billionth copy would be as cheap as dirt. Send some of them into space and they could build new armies out of planetary rubble and dust, then go on to construct enough spaceships and refueling stations to carry the human race to other planets and, eventually, other stars.
Keywords
aerospace instrumentation; aerospace robotics; space vehicles; NASA engineers; first robot; human race; refueling stations; solar system; space resources; spaceships; Economics; Moon; NASA; Robots; Space missions; Space vehicles;
fLanguage
English
Journal_Title
Spectrum, IEEE
Publisher
ieee
ISSN
0018-9235
Type
jour
DOI
10.1109/MSPEC.2014.6821617
Filename
6821617
Link To Document